I’d been dithering about going to the Worldcon this year, even though it’s rare that it’s held inside Europe, partially because it’s been such a long time that I’ve been to a proper con and would I not feel uncomfortable going to the biggest of them all. However when Rose Fox turned out not to be able to go and offered their membership for sale I took the chance. So now I just need to book a hotel and a train journey and I’m there.
Oh, and I have slightly longer than a month to decide what to vote for in the Hugo Awards.
Here’s how I’m going to do this: I’m of course going to blog about it, so I’m laying down some ground rules. First, I’ll have to address the rightwing attempt to turn the Hugos into a propagandafest. That’s easily solved: everybody on this slate is disqualified and won’t appear on my ballot.
This includes:
- Best Novel: Warbound, Book III of the Grimnoir Chronicles by Larry Correia (Baen Books)
- Best novella: The Butcher of Khardov by Dan Wells (Privateer Press)
- Best novella: The Chaplain’s Legacy by Brad Torgersen (Analog, Jul-Aug 2013)
- Best Novelette: The Exchange Officers by Brad Torgersen (Analog, Jan-Feb 2013)
- Best Novelette: Opera Vita Aeterna by Vox Day (The Last Witchking, Marcher Lord Hinterlands)
- Best editor Long form: Toni Weisskopf
- Best fanzine: Elitist Book Reviews edited by Steven Diamond
All these won’t be taken into consideration, won’t be read, won’t appear on my ballot.
There’s one other borderline entry on the Hugo ballots,The Wheel of Time series, which is slightly dodgy for two reasons. One, it’s a complete series put on the novel ballot under the idea that it’s one single book split up in parts and two, people campaigned for it in honour of Robert Jordan. The latter I have no problems with, as the people who nominated it did it out of a genuine appreciation of Jordan and his work. Remains the question, is it a single book?
Not to me. I find this stretches the definition of single book too far and hence won’t be putting it on my ballot. To be fair, even if had put it on the ballot I’ve read enough of the series to know it would’ve finished dead last. I like Jordan and will always appreciate The Wheel of Time for getting me through some dark times, but it’s not good enough for a Hugo Award.
So those are the works that drop off immediately for me. In the next post: which categories to exclude. I have opinions.
(Updated for pronoun errors.)
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